Longtime friendship leads to new coaching addition for the women’s basketball team

The allure of the Western Athletic conference is already paying dividends for the UVU women’s basketball program, and it hasn’t even started fall practice yet.

Recently, head coach Cathy Nixon announced the hiring of associate head coach Jason Glover. Fans may not recognize his name, but Glover has 27 years of coaching experience on every level of basketball, including the WNBA and NBA.

“Jason is a superstar,” said Nixon. “He brings a level of experience that very few college women’s programs are privileged to have and as the head coach here I’m excited to learn from Jason. I’m excited for our girls to learn from him. I can tell you that the day Jason started working here, he made us better.”

A month ago Glover was rooted in Reno, Nev. as the head coach of the Reno Bighorns. It was his first stop as a head coach on a professional level. At the time, the Bighorns were the affiliate for three NBA teams: the Jazz, Grizzlies and Kings. When the Maloof brothers sold the Kings, new ownership came in and demanded that the Bighorns be the only affiliate for Sacramento.

“[The Sacramento Kings] wanted their own people,” said Glover. “That threw me for a loop because for the last three months I had been working on my practice plans and calling agents, telling them I was the new head coach for Reno. Literally three weeks ago I found out the Kings wanted to go in a different direction. They hired their own guy and that left me out in the cold.”

Luckily for Glover, longtime personal friend Cathy Nixon had an opening on her staff. Former associate coach Dan Nielsen left for BYU during the summer. Glover and Nixon talked frequently. When they talked basketball, Glover would recommend potential recruits to the Wolverines coach from his AAU team he ran in Reno during the off-season. Nixon called the former NBA D-League coach after a coaching vacancy opened up; the timing couldn’t have been better.

“I had thought for the last couple years about getting back into college coaching,” said Glover. “I was a college coach for a long time. It’s more secure. Basketball is so volatile. You’re coming and going all the time. I was on the staff with Kurt Rambis in Minnesota for one year and then he got let go, so we all got let go. Long story short, I called Cathy back that night and I said that I would be interested in that position. We talked about it for about a week and it seemed like a good fit.”

The decision to become a Wolverine was still a difficult one for Glover because by taking the job here he would be leaving his son and girlfriend back in Reno. Fortunately for Nixon, the job was too good to pass up.

The presence of coach Glover has already made a difference for the Wolverine program.

“I’m hoping to bring a little enthusiasm,” said Glover. “Cathy has been very successful for a long time and I’m here to support her. I’m going to change up the atmosphere a little bit and bring a little fun to the program.”

Notable teams that Jason Glover has coached for are the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Tulsa Shock, the Nevada Wolf Pack, Dixie State, and the Reno Bighorns.